ÃƒÂƒÃ‚Â‰taix retrospective screens at DeBartolo

England definitely. From Monty Python to Benny Hill, the English know how to do comedy. Sometimes those laughs come at the expense of the French.

Inspector Clouseau — the bumbling French detective made famous in the “Pink Panther” films — was played by the very British Peter Sellers.

However, France has a very strong tradition of comedic films released in the post-World War II years, according to Ted Barron, senior associate director of the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

The work of French filmmaker and actor Pierre Étaix will be the focus of a retrospective beginning Thursday at DeBartolo’s Browning Cinema. “Cinema Classics: The Films of Pierre Étaix” runs through May 9.

“He’s an important filmmaker that a lot of people don’t know about,” Barron says. “He was a key figure in post-World War II French cinema, but in more of a behind-the-scenes role, where he worked as an assistant director to more well-known filmmakers, such as Jacques Tati.”

Barron says Tati, who died in 1982, and the 84-year-old Étaix share a lot of similarities.

“Both do comedies and both make similar kinds of films,” he says.

Étaix started directing and acting in his own movies in the early 1960s, Barron says.

“They are these really interesting comedies that have largely gone unseen because of legal issues surrounding distribution,” he says.

That changed in recent years after Janus Films invested in the movies and created new film prints, Barron says.

Janus Film made the films available to movie houses for screenings. Barron says that a retrospective on a filmmaker such as Étaix falls within the Browning Cinema’s mission.

“In addition to showing a variety of new and older (classic) films, we like to discover major filmmakers whose work we didn’t know about,” he says. “So there is a process of discovery that kind of fuels this, but also on a basic level, these are just wonderful and entertaining films.”

Americans might not be familiar with the work of Étaix, but the filmmaker has one U.S. connection.

“The (actor) who gets talked about in relationship with him a lot is

Jerry Lewis,” Barron says.

Americans do not see Lewis as a serious actor, he says, but French fans respect Lewis’ work.

“In France, he’s always been regarded as a much more serious artist, and it’s his comedies that they’ve come to appreciate him,” Barron says.

He notes that there are not the extremes of slapstick in French comedy.

Étaix’s brand of physical comedy is more subtle. That can be seen in films such as the 1961 short “Rupture” and “Happy Anniversary,” a short movie released a year later.

Étaix meets a series of minor calamities as he tries to respond to a breakup letter he receives from his girlfriend.

Étaix’s fountain pen malfunctions each time he tries to write. Étaix punctuates these incidents with funny sound effects.

Barron says the sound effects reflect Tati’s influence on Étaix.

In “Happy Anniversary” Étaix contends with the Parisian traffic while running errands on his way home for a quiet anniversary dinner with his wife.

“Happy Anniversary” works as a comedy and a commentary on the changes that technology and prosperity brought to postwar France.

“There were so many changes happening in the world, and that can be overwhelming at times,” Barron says, “so why not find a way to make light of that?”

On Screen

The University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center presents “Cinema Classics: The Films of Pierre Étaix” at 8 p.m. Thursday, 3 p.m. Saturday, and 7 p.m. May 8 and 9. Tickets are $7-$4. For more information, call 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu.